"As the son of a climber": Laschet becomes the new chairman of the RAG Foundation

After his failed chancellor candidacy, the former CDU leader will deal with the consequences of mining in the future.

"As the son of a climber": Laschet becomes the new chairman of the RAG Foundation

After his failed chancellor candidacy, the former CDU leader will deal with the consequences of mining in the future. Laschet has a well-known advocate for the post, Economics Minister Habeck. He sees a big plus in Laschet's biography.

Armin Laschet becomes the new chairman of the Board of Trustees of the RAG Foundation, which deals with the consequences of hard coal mining. The former Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia and failed CDU/CSU candidate for chancellor had been elected to the post, the Federal Ministry of Economics announced. Economics Minister Robert Habeck suggested it. "Laschet knows the history of hard coal mining like no other: As the son of a foreman, he grew up with mining, and as Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia he was closely involved in the exit from hard coal mining," says Habeck.

The RAG-Foundation was founded on June 26, 2007 to manage the settlement of subsidized German hard coal mining and to ensure the financing of the perpetual obligations from German hard coal mining. "Hard coal mining left a gigantic system of shafts and routes underground and also had a strong impact on the landscape," said Habeck.

The value of the foundation's assets at the end of 2021 was around 21.3 billion euros. The "forever quests" are consequences of mining with no end in sight. The most costly area is the constant pumping up of mine water, which naturally rises after coal mining has ended, but should not come close to groundwater and therefore drinking water. It is pumped to the surface and then discharged into rivers.

The board of trustees is the second organ of the foundation alongside the executive board. Laschet replaces Jürgen Großmann, one of the former bosses of the energy giant RWE, as chairman of the committee. Also at the suggestion of the federal government, two new members of the board of trustees were appointed: the chairman of the board of the state association for renewable energies in North Rhine-Westphalia, Reiner Priggen, and Steag boss Andreas Reichel.